


the right direction

by 101places



Series: aos pride [10]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, I don't really know how to use tags can you tell, S6 Adjacent, Space Team - Freeform, Spring Fling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-23 18:40:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18707731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/101places/pseuds/101places
Summary: A day in the lives of SHIELD's space team.( AKA: Spring Fling entry that definitely won't be canon compliant after a week but that's okay )





	the right direction

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stjarna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stjarna/gifts).



> hi! the more i wrote, the more it ended up only fitting the prompts really vaguely, but i hope that it's enjoyable anyway!! there are also references to That Episode from s5, but just in a vague That Sure Is A Traumatic Thing That Happened way. im gonna stop talking in the notes now otherwise thisll be like, longer than the fanfic itself, but YEAH i hope you enjoy!!!

In his time observing humans, Enoch had witnessed much odd behaviour that was difficult for him to fully understand. While behaviour could always be predicted with a fairly impressive margin of error, understanding it was a different question altogether.

In an effort to better understand human life, Enoch had spent time living as a human. He had owned a house and interacted routinely with ‘other’ humans. He had even gone swimming, in an attempt to understand why so many humans enjoyed to put themselves in danger of drowning as a recreational sport, but while he certainly found no aspect of human behaviour particularly distressing, even after surrounding himself with it he found it no easier to understand.

Enoch accepted that human behaviour was simply something he would not be able to understand. It was as foreign and unknowable to him as his own behaviour was to humanity. He would simply have to accept it and continue to observe, even if he only understood what he was observing in theory.

This was something Enoch was perfectly comfortable with.

Then, a prophet revealed herself. A young inhuman who existed out of step with the rest of humanity. Enoch spent some time with her, collecting her prophecies and deciphering them to paint a picture of the future. The longer that he spent with her, the more he found himself able to not only predict her behaviour, but understand it.

Enoch began to wonder if he was simply unable to understand humanity as a whole- if the key to understanding humanity wasn’t in generalisations of their whole society, but in the quirks and unique behaviour of individuals.

Further time passed by, and Enoch found himself surrounded by a group of humans whose behaviours seemed drastically atypical of the population as a whole but, he found, made perfect sense. Enoch understood their behaviour on a profound level, and when the time came, it was his pleasure to give himself to return them home.

That incarnation of Enoch who understood the agents of SHIELD on such a personal level expired.

The Enoch that currently stood in the cockpit, silently observing Davis struggle to keep the Zephyr flying straight through a gravity storm, was not that Enoch.

“If I may-” Enoch began, ready to offer his expertise.

“It’s alright,” Davis brushed him away, “I’ve got this… I think I’ve got his. I- oh no. I do not have this.”

Taking this as permission to assist, Enoch stepped forwards and took Davis’ space at the pilot’s seat.

This ship was rather rudimentary compared to the vessels that Enoch had sailed in the past, but ships were easier to grasp than humans, and moments after Enoch took control the turbulence reduced considerably.

To Enoch’s side, Davis sighed.

“Sometimes I wonder what I’m doing up here, Enoch. I can barely fly this thing on Earth. Who thought it would be a good idea to let me fly her through space?”

“I believe it was Director Alphonso Mackenzie who considered you well enough equipped to pilot this mission.” Enoch responded in his usual monotone voice, not recognising the question as rhetorical.

Before Davis could response, heavy footsteps crashed into the room, and the pair looked over to see a slightly out of breath Piper standing in the doorway. Enoch tilted his head to the side, while Davis took a few steps towards her. “Is everything alright?”

“That’s what I was going to ask you,” Piper countered, “The shaking stopped- I thought something had gone terribly wrong.”

“I’m not even offended by your lack of faith in my piloting- but, no. Nothing’s wrong. Enoch’s getting us through the worst of it.”

Piper looked over to Enoch and gave an acknowledging nod. Enoch didn’t quite understand what that was supposed to mean, so he turned his gaze back to the gravity field, focussing on getting the ship to the other side of it safely.

Satisfied that it would be smooth sailing for a while longer, Enoch stood from the seat, handing the stick back to Davis, before turning to head out of the room.

“Oh- thanks!” Davis called after him as he left.

Enoch walked down the corridors of the Zephyr, calmly taking the ship in. It had only been a week since the crew had located himself and Fitz, reporting that they had successfully averted the extinction-level event that Robin had prophesied. Since then, they had been heading back to Earth, where Enoch would retake his position as the Earth’s patron chronicom, and life would be as it had before this all began.

Still, Enoch wanted to make the most of his time in such close quarters with humans. It would likely be a while until he was given the opportunity to observe humans from such close proximity again. It would be a waste not to use this time.

So he strolled through the Zephyr, searching for signs of life from the other three passengers.

In a room to his left, Enoch heard a noise. He paused by the door, trying to hear what was being done inside. Satisfied that it was something that he would not be chastised for disturbing, he opened the door.

The inhabitant of the room jumped at his sudden appearance, but as Enoch had predicted, she didn’t tell him off for entering. Instead, Simmons looked up blearily, setting the picture she had been examining aside, as if she was embarrassed to have been caught with it. She needn’t have been, though. Enoch was not able to understand the significance of it.

“Enoch,” Simmons greeted, “Can I help you?”

“Perhaps.” Enoch responded, considering her. “I am attempting to gain a deeper understanding of human functioning.”

Simmons let out a dry laugh. “I don’t think we’re the most representative case study. All of this,” She signalled to their general surroundings with her hand, “Is rather atypical human functioning.”

“Even in extremes, you are human.”

“I suppose so.”

“I am going to find Leopold James Fitz and Daisy Johnson. Would you like to join me?”

A strange look crossed Simmons face that Enoch was unable to recognise. She was silent for a moment, before speaking up. “I don’t think that would be a good idea right now.”

Taking her response in his stride, Enoch nodded and turned and left the room, continuing down the corridor. It didn’t take him long to locate the final two members of the crew due to the inappropriately loud voices they were using.

“I just don’t see why it’s necessary for me to be in here! It’s not a personal attack- you could do all of this if I wasn’t here!”

“But- but I need you to test- I won’t know if it’s working if you don’t try it.”

“I trust in your judgement! If you think it’ll work, then it’ll work.”

“That’s not- that’s not how this works. I need to be sure. If we run into more space pirates you can’t just quake your bones apart- which might happen if you won’t test the new gauntlets properly.”

“I’ll be careful! Look, I told Piper I’d help her with-”

“Daisy. I’m not an idiot.”

“I never said-”

“Just tell me why you’re avoiding me.”

At that moment, Enoch stepped into the room.

Daisy rounded the counter, approaching Enoch and putting more space between herself and Fitz. “Hey, Enoch. What’s up?”

Enoch glanced skywards, momentarily confused, before recalling modern Earth slang, “‘Nothing much’ is ‘up’, Agent Johnson.”

Daisy pulled a face. “We’re seriously going to have to work on your delivery.” She continued on, brushing past Enoch and into the corridor, “I’ve got a date with Piper- I mean, a sparring session. I’ll see you two later.”

Across the room, Fitz let out a frustrated sigh, dropping the gauntlet in his hand onto the counter. Enoch stepped further into the room, sending him an inquisitive look.

“I have… no idea… what that was about.” Fitz ground out, “She hasn’t looked me in the eye all week, she’s always looking for an excuse to leave when we’re alone together, and she won’t tell me what’s going on.”

“Perhaps there was an incident with yourself from the alternate timeline.”

“Yeah, well, if there was then no one’s telling me anything.” Fitz pulled up a chair and began to work on the gauntlets, “I don’t see how she expects these to work if she won’t test run them.”

As Enoch watched Fitz work, he reflected on the events of the past week. There were certainly issues amongst this team that were unspoken- even Enoch with his fairly literal understanding of the world was aware of this. Perhaps, he reasoned, his goal shouldn’t be to understand these humans himself. Perhaps it would be more productive to lead them to understand one another.

* * *

“Oh, she’s adorable.” Simmons cooed, “She has your eyes.”

Davis chuckled, “Everyone keeps saying that, but it’s all just her.” His gaze softened, and he clicked off the image of his daughter. “Not long now and I won’t need her picture to get me through.”

Simmons looked away. “I don’t think I ever thanked you.”

“Thanked me?”

“For coming. For helping. For leaving your whole life behind to help someone you didn’t  _ really _ know. I know that I haven’t made any of this easy. I’m grateful to you for understanding.”

“What choice did I have, really?” Davis asked, looking at the space stretching out before them, “I remember the look in my wife’s eyes when I turned up on her doorstep after everything with AIDA and the LMDs. I don’t think I could ever forget that- she thought I was dead, that she’d never see me again, that she’d have to raise our child alone. 

Seeing you in this ship every time a lead led to a dead end, seeing you with that same look in your eyes, how could I have given up? Besides, you needed a pilot. I’m not brave enough to face Agent May’s anger if I made her come up here.”

Touched, Simmons fell silent and joined Davis in just looking out at the stars.

The past few months had been difficult for everyone involved. Simmons had been so desperate to get her husband back that she hadn’t considered those who chose to come with her. She hadn’t been able to afford to consider other’s emotions, she had had to keep her focus purely on finding Fitz. Everything else had come second to that.

She didn’t regret that mentality, even if she had damaged her standing with her friends. It was never her intention to hurt others, but if that was necessary to bring Fitz home, then it was a sacrifice she was willing to make. The only way to succeed was to prioritise.

But despite not regretting her choices, and even now still considering them a necessity, she was aware of the hurt she had caused. Simmons didn’t regret, and as her actions had led to Fitz being by her side once again, she couldn’t say that she was sorry. So, instead, she was grateful.

To Davis who had left his family behind to help her find hers. To Piper who had done so much, and fought so hard, to redeem herself for a mistake that anyone could have made. And to Daisy, who through everything that they had faced, always had her back, even when Simmons would have understood if she didn’t want anything further to do with her.

The door to the cockpit slid open, and Enoch stepped through. He was another one that she’d have to be grateful to, wasn’t he? Even though Enoch had been the catalyst to start that time loop, his actions had been taken to save the world, and ultimately he had kept Fitz alive and mostly safe for the past year.

Coming back to the present, it was obvious that Enoch wanted something. Simmons recalled the odd statement he had made earlier, and wondered if this could have something to do with that.

“I have a proposition.” Enoch stated.

Davis looked over. “Oh boy. Here we go again.”

While Simmons wouldn’t say it aloud, she couldn’t help but agree with Davis internally. “What is it, Enoch?”

* * *

Piper ducked her head to the side to avoid Daisy’s jab, then dropped to the ground as a quake blast hit where she’d been stood a moment prior. She didn’t allow herself time to rest, bouncing back up again on the balls of her feet, beginning her own onslaught as Daisy left herself open. Daisy crashed to the ground, and Piper pinned her down. For a few moments Daisy struggled, but with her arms pinned and all of Piper’s weight on her, she couldn’t get back up.

“Alright, I give.”

Piper released Daisy, stepping back and looking her over with a slight frown. Daisy pulled herself up and brushed herself down before falling back into position, pausing only when she saw the look on Piper’s face. “Okay. What is it?”

“You’re not focussing.” Piper finally decided. “I shouldn’t have been able to take you down that quickly. What happened?”

Daisy considered her options, before relaxing her pose and sighing. “Fitz wanted my help in the lab.”

Piper walked over to their water bottles, tossing Daisy’s to her. They might as well take a break- clearly, they weren’t going to be productive while Daisy’s mind was elsewhere. “And?”

Of course, Piper understood why that would be an issue. She knew what had happened between Daisy and Fitz in the past, and had been Daisy’s confident about it- and a lot more- during this space mission. But she also knew that speaking her thoughts aloud could be therapeutic. If it went badly, they could always just go back to punching their feelings out, anyway.

“Every time I see him I just keep thinking about  _ that _ .” Daisy said, after taking a gulp of her water, “I’m still so angry about it. I won’t ever forgive him for doing that to me, but- that Fitz in the lab? He never did it. That wasn’t  _ him _ . So what the hell am I supposed to do now? I can’t blame him for something he never did, but I can’t carry on like it never happened, either.”

When Piper had signed up for SHIELD, she’d known that she was going to be thrown into a hell of a lot of situations that would be difficult to understand. Her first mission with this team had been fighting alien warriors, and she was currently in a spaceship on her way back to Earth. Still, she could process aliens and space travel. Time travel, however, would always be something that was just a little beyond her.

Because Daisy had a point. How could you move on from something if the guilty party wasn’t actually guilty? Where did you focus that anger? There was no easy answer.

“I’m guessing that talking to him about it is off the table?” Piper tried.

“ _ Definitely _ .”

Piper tried to think of another solution, but there didn’t seem to be one. Of course, Daisy could keep trying to avoid him, but while the Zephyr was certainly a comfortable size, there was only so long that would be able to work. 

“Well,” Piper finally spoke up again, “Anytime you need to pound it out, I’ll be here.”

Daisy blinked and Piper processed what she’d just said.

“Punch it out. Anytime you need to punch- sparring. Anytime you want to spar.”

The door to the room slid open, saving Piper from that foot in her mouth.

Davis poked his head in, “Hey. Sorry to interrupt, but I need to discuss something with Piper. Nothing serious!”

That was a suspicious thing to say if Piper had ever heard one. Her curiosity was piqued (and, also, she wanted a hasty retreat so she didn’t die over what had accidentally slipped out of her mouth), so she began to walk over.

“I’ll- uh- I’ll be back, Daisy.”

Daisy nodded and turned to one of the punching bags.

Back out in the corridor, Davis looked over at Piper. “That didn’t sound like it was going well.”

Piper groaned. “You heard that?”

“Just the last part.”

“That was the worst part.”

“You’ll get there eventually.” Davis said, aiming for support.

“Yeah, yeah. What did you need to talk about?”

Davis began walking down the corridor, Piper hurrying to catch up with him. When he was far enough from where they’d left Daisy, he began to explain Enoch’s idea in a hushed tone.

When he was finished, he waited for Piper’s response.

“That has to be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” A pause. “I’ll help.”

* * *

Fitz took a scrutinising look at the gauntlets, unsatisfied with his work. Theoretically, they should help Daisy to focus her powers and protect her from too much of a backlash, but he couldn’t help but feel that he could have done more. He tossed them into the air a few times, getting a feel for the weight. Were they too heavy?

He dropped them onto the counter and groaned. It was no good, he’d been working on them for too long. He couldn’t be objective about them anymore.

He reached for his comm, hesitating before lifting it to his face. He wanted to call Simmons down, to ask her for her thoughts- and maybe even to ask her if she knew what the hell was up with Daisy. But for the days since they’d reunited- this was the first day that she’d let them separate.

It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy her company- to the contrary, there was nothing he loved more than having her right there beside him. It was just the desperation of it that worried him. He could understand it, of course, but he wanted them to spend time with one another because they were in love and couldn’t get enough of each other’s company, not because they were terrified of what would happen if they looked away for a few seconds.

But perhaps he was overthinking this. He just needed her take on the gauntlets.

He brought the comm up and spoke into it: “Jemma, can you come down to the lab?”

He waited for a reply, but none came.

“Jemma?” He tried again after a minute, “Can you hear me?”

There was still nothing.

This probably wasn’t a big deal. She was probably busy with something- Fitz knew how she could lose track of everything around her if she became fixated. Or maybe there was a technical fault and his messages just weren’t being received. Those were the most logical explanations.

Still, he couldn’t help the spark of anxiety clawing its way up his chest. What if something had happened? What if they’d been boarded while he’d been here in the lab? What if she didn’t respond because she couldn’t? What if after only a week of rest another tragedy was waiting to trip them up once again?

There was only one way to really know for sure.

Fitz picked up the gauntlets, and left the lab.

Out in the corridor, everything looked the same as always. There was no sign of anything- or anyone- where it shouldn’t be. The Zephyr continued to hum and occasionally sway as it always did. But there was no one around.

The crew was small, it wasn’t particularly unusual to have no one around, but usually regardless of where you were, you’d be able to hear  _ something _ . Now there was nothing, and the eerie silence only served to increase Fitz’s anxiety.

Then, he heard footsteps steadily coming closer. He found himself regretting having wished for noise- this was definitely worse.

Fitz geared himself up for a fight, hand hovering over his holster. All he had was his ICER, and he hoped that would be enough for whoever had boarded the Zephyr. 

The footsteps were just around the corner now. He took his ICER out of his holster, ready for the confrontation. Any second now he’d see the horrific creature that had-

Oh.

“Uh, don’t shoot?” Daisy offered.

Sheepishly, Fitz returned his gun. It was just Daisy. His heart-rate already began to calm back down.

Daisy stayed where she was, eyeing him suspiciously. “Are you alright?”

“Fine.” Fitz replied, before sighing. “Jemma isn’t answering her comms. I was just going to find out what’s happened.”

Daisy began to come closer, stopping a few feet away, “She’s not answering? ...Piper said she was going to come back, but that was a couple hours ago. Came to see what was holding her up.”

It didn’t go unnoticed by Fitz that this was the closest Daisy had willingly come to him all week.

“If something’s happened, it’d be better to stick together.” He said, then held out the gauntlets, “You could also test these.”

Daisy hesitated, but accepted the gauntlets, strapping them back in. Fitz looked over expectantly for her initial thoughts on them, but got nothing. He supposed he’d just have to be grateful that she’d taken them in the first place.

The pair began down the corridor, systematically checking every room. The longer they searched without finding any sign of the rest of the crew, the more their shared anxiety grew. It shouldn’t be this difficult to find someone. The crew may have been small, but the Zephyr wasn’t a labyrinth.

Eventually, as they reached the briefing room, they heard muffled voices. Whoever was speaking were keeping their voices down, so it was difficult to identify who they were or what they were saying.

Fitz and Daisy shared a look, Fitz cocking his gun and Daisy preparing to quake. When they were both ready, Fitz opened the door and they rushed inside.

Without giving herself time to process what was really happening, Daisy quaked the first figure she saw, sending him crashing back. A few moments later she recognised who that was and dropped her hands.

“Crap,” She cursed, “Davis, I am so sorry.”

Blearily, Davis looked up from where he’d ended up on the floor. “Why do these things always happen to me?”

Daisy walked over and offered him her hand, helping to pull him back up.

Fitz looked about the room. Simmons, Piper and Enoch were all also present, much to his relief. What was confusing, however, was the state of the room. The table had been covered with a blanket, and atop the blanket were plates of food. Frowning, Fitz looked over to Simmons for an explanation.

“It was Enoch’s idea,” Simmons explained, “That we should all get together as a group. Though… in hindsight, perhaps we should have prepared in a less ominous manner.”

Fitz turned his gaze to Enoch, raising an eyebrow. When Enoch only stared back at him blankly, he prompted: “Enoch?”

Realising that he was being expected to explain himself, Enoch began to speak, “Despite having lived amongst humans for a considerable amount of time, I would not claim to understand how you function. However, when observing Robin and Polly Hinton, I witnessed an activity known as a ‘picnic’.”

“Hold up,” Daisy looked over from where she’d been examining the food, “This is meant to be a picnic? We’re in space.”

“That’s what I said.” Davis piped up.

“I thought it was pretty ridiculous, too.” Piper added.

“Oh, come on,” Simmons chided, “I think it’s a lovely idea. You don’t need to be on Earth to enjoy a picnic.”

“But it’s astronaut food.” Daisy insisted, “How could anyone enjoy a picnic when they’re stuck eating astronaut food?”

“‘Astronaut food’ is really not that bad.” Simmons said.

“Please. Are you really going to say you’d prefer these,” She held up a plate of astronaut strawberries, “To actual strawberries from Earth.”

“Technically speaking, these are actual strawberries from Earth.”

“You know what I mean!”

“Hey,” Piper called over, “At least we can all agree the ice-cream is alright.”

Daisy relented, walking over to where Piper was standing and taking an ice-cream from the freezer bag beside her. “When all of this is over, you’d better take me to a real picnic.”

“It’s a date.” Piper replied, “I mean, it’s-”

“Good.” Daisy interrupted, grinning as Piper tried to work out what Daisy was implying.

Across the room, Fitz was poking at the plate he’d made, eyeing the gauntlets out of the corner of his eye. “I’m still not satisfied with them. I wanted to ask you to take another look.”

Simmons leaned against his side. “Later. I think we’ve all earned the opportunity to rest for now.”

Fitz looked down at her, smiling gently. “I suppose you’re right.”

To the side, Davis reached for his own plate, pausing to look over at Enoch, “Can I get you anything?”

Enoch shook his head. “I do not require nutritional sustenance to ensure my continued functioning, however, I do appreciate the attempt at hospitality.”

Davis blinked. “Alright, I guess that was a no.”

* * *

The crew remained at their ‘picnic’ for most of the evening (or, at least, what they had chosen to consider the evening- time really was more of a construct, and being off-planet made it somewhat difficult to keep track of), leaving only when necessary to make sure the Zephyr stayed on its flight path, and that there were no further gravity storms ahead of them.

Now, most of them were winding down, sitting around the room and talking quietly amongst one another.

Daisy and Piper, Simmons noticed, were displaying far more physical contact than they used to. It would be rather interesting to see what developed from this- honestly, Simmons found it comforting to see Daisy finally begin to recover from some of the traumas that she had faced in the past. Daisy was, and always would be, one of Simmons closest friends. Seeing her rediscover her happiness was a beautiful thing.

Davis was sat a few feet away from Piper, watching them with a similar expression to Simmons. It wouldn’t be long now until they would be back on Earth, and Davis would be able to reunite with his wife and child. For everything that he had done for her, Simmons knew that she owed him. A fruit basket surely wouldn’t be enough to make up for that but, Simmons mused, it might be a good start.

Enoch was the only one in the group still standing, watching them from the corner, no doubt trying to understand their behaviours in a way that made sense to him. When they got back to Earth, Simmons didn’t know where Enoch would go, but she would do her best to make sure he could do whatever he wanted. Even though one could argue that his actions had started this whole mess, he had succeeded in preventing that terrible extinction-level event. And, on a more personal note, he had kept Fitz safe for the past year in space.

Then there was Fitz himself.

He was half-laying beside Simmons, her head resting on his chest. It was, admittedly, not the most comfortable position, but neither of them could find it in them to move.

So much had happened over the past year to both of them, and it would take a long time for them to process it all. There were some wounds that had only just begun to heal, and others that hadn’t yet even been given that chance. The road forwards wouldn’t be an easy one, and although they were nearing home, they couldn’t just close the door on everything they’d been through.

But as Simmons looked around at her friends, still able to laugh and smile with one another, and felt Fitz’s heart beat by her ear, she felt as though they were all heading in the right direction.


End file.
